Changing careers into housing education

The housing sector has always been a diverse place to work, with careers ranging from trades and hands-on work to customer services and housing management. But what isn’t so well advertised is the career paths that lead to housing education, such as becoming a tutor or an assessor for housing qualifications. 

CIH caught up with Martin Gatter, one of CIH’s end point assessors to find out more about how he came into the career path, and what advice he would offer to others thinking about the same move. 

Talk us through your housing career and how you transitioned into education. 

I have worked for two London Boroughs - starting in 1980 as a housing assistant for LB Southwark and finishing in 1997 with the joint role of area director and head of the quality team for LB Greenwich. I managed some challenging inner-city estates, notably North Peckham for Southwark and the Ferrier for Greenwich.  

In 1997 I decided to take redundancy, and moved into the role of a full-time Martial Arts instructor. I currently hold the rank of 8th Degree Black Belt. Throughout both my housing and Martial Arts careers, a substantial amount of my duties involved training, supporting and assessing others. 

When I took redundancy, I realised I would miss some elements of more ‘normal’ work so applied to City & Guilds to initially become a training provider and then an external quality assurer (EQA). I gained the old training and development qualifications to assess, internally verify and externally verify National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) with them (or the “D” awards as they were known). Roles as a TEQA (National Housing Lead) and SEQA (EQA Team Leader) followed. When City & Guilds decided to withdraw from housing qualifications, I took advice from a colleague and submitted my CV to CIH to join them. Thankfully, I was accepted and started as a moderator and independent end point assessor. I was later appointed to a lead role in both areas.

Other than needing the return to ‘normal’ work as you put it, what motivated you to move into education? 

My motivation to become an assessor was observing people conducting that role when I managed an NVQ centre for City & Guilds. They enthused me both positively – by readily providing advice and support, and negatively – by being distant and unhelpful (I particularly remember one feedback session where the assessor comment was limited to “Not good enough. Try again”).  I think the main incentive was to do a better job than that and I try very hard to never refer evidence without clearly explaining what is required to achieve a pass. 

I also gain enjoyment in problem solving and saw the assessor role as a way to find that type of challenge to meet. 

What was the assessor training process like?  

The training to achieve the “D” awards was lengthy and based on face-to-face meetings with an assessor who required me to produce portfolios of evidence and observed me conducting assessments. I think it took approximately two years to achieve all the units – you had to first gain the assessor award before being able to take any of the others. Different versions of the awards are now available with various study centres. 

Training with CIH was mainly online and, I think, everyone involved would agree, needed some development. Part of the lead roles I subsequently took on involved contributing to the development of a comprehensive training and support system. 

What sort of assessment work do you do and what does it involve?  

Currently I assess the work of: 

• Centre assessors to confirm they have made correct judgements to pass / refer their learners who have submitted evidence to meet a range of units for the various housing qualifications. 
• Apprentice case studies, portfolios and projects to achieve Levels 2, 3 and 4. 
• EQA’s to ensure they have made correct judgements when themselves assessing the work of study centres. 
• IEPA’s to ensure they have made correct judgements when assessing apprentices. 

In each case, this involves reviewing the work of learners and apprentices to ensure their evidence fully meets specified learning outcomes and assessment criteria. 

I find it easier to focus on this type of work early in the morning, so I spend a couple of hours between 7am and 9am most days. My main job occurs in afternoons and evenings which meshes neatly with this routine. 

How do you find work as an assessor, are you in permanent roles or is it contracted work? 

As a team, we are independent contractors that are allocated work as required. 

What does your typical day look like when you’re working as an assessor?  

For apprenticeships, I have a system that starts with reading through the project report and entering a summary on the report of any evidence that immediately stands out as matching one or more of the assessment criteria (AC). I then reverse the focus starting with the AC that haven’t been met a going back through the project to identify any relevant evidence. The next stage is looking at the apprentice’s diary where (hopefully) they have summarised how they think they have met each AC. 

I feel that CIH documents, particularly those sent outside the organisation, should have a standard and professional appearance. The final stage is reviewing spelling, grammar and formatting to ensure a consistent and appropriate presentation. 

What’s the best thing about being an assessor in the housing sector?  

For training providers and centres it is supporting them to provide accurate assessment with effective and efficient systems. 

For learners and apprentices it is seeing their development and achievement. 

What are the biggest challenges you face as an assessor?  

I find there are two main challenges that I hope I meet. 

Maintaining a consistent level of performance and enthusiasm when assessing multiple learners producing similar evidence to meet the same unit. 

Assessing case studies and projects that have been produced without alignment to the learning outcomes and assessment criteria. 

It can also be quite difficult to assess projects that exceed 80 pages! 

There are occasions where an apprentice has submitted excellent evidence that meets the requirements for a distinction but omits to cover just one assessment criteria. This can be hugely disappointing for everyone involved in the process. 

What would you say to others that are considering training to become an assessor? 

Go for it! 

But make sure you are fully informed of the role and the expectations before making the decision.